There's a lot of baffling outright dismissal of Granderson happening right now. In a vacuum, getting him for $5M is pretty darn good. They just need to keep going.
These Reactions To The Granderson Signing Were Good
Photo credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2018, 13:52 ESTUpdated: Jan 16, 2018, 13:56 EST
The Blue Jays signed Curtis Granderson! It was a right and good thing for a team like the Blue Jays to do, not without a little risk, but making sense for several reasons, as I wrote last night. But oh my, the reactions! So many of the reactions — they were bad. Awful, hissing, garbage reactions!
Now, that’s not to say that the deal is perfect or anybody has to love it or that we all must think the same way about it, but from “dumpster dive”-hating goofs to pipe dreaming weirdos to roster space lovers who can’t count to batting average and RBI luddites to those who mistake their ability to think of something negative to say for wit to obtuse-posturing tantrum lovers to those dumb enough to think age should be a disqualifying factor for a player signing a one-year contract to any and all manner of pissers and moaners, the deal was rejected by an impressively broad coalition of the useless. Those are the reactions I’m talking about here. Their reactions were bad.
These reactions, on the other hand, were good:
Same shit happening with the Oilers. “Why shore up the backup goalie when they need to improve the PK?!” Jays: “Why add depth when they need better starters?” “Why brush your teeth when you have cancer?!” Yeah, the big thing’s more important, but shouldn’t stop the smaller stuff
Curtis Granderson, 2016-2017: 4.7 WAR Andrew McCutchen, 2016-2017: 4.3 WAR Arbitrary endpoints? Okay, maybe. How about... Curtis Granderson, 2015-2017: 9.8 WAR Andrew McCutchen, 2015-2017: 9.9 WAR 🤔
One of the most important things to note about the Blue Jays-Curtis Granderson deal is how much better it is than signing Jay Bruce to a 3-year, $39M deal.
One of the justifications often used for the slow offseason & weak FA market is that like-minded GMs have all realized that free agency is a bad way to build a team. But if 2 WAR players with great intagibles like Granderson are signing for $5M, that's going to change fast.
Throw out the first and last months of 2017 (for some reason) and Curtis Granderson hit .243/.370/.548 from May 1 to Aug. 31.
LOOKIN’ GOOD, GRANDY!
No, but seriously, it’s a nice pickup.